in kind and encomiendas to replace the payment of tributes then imposed on the Indians. He ordered the construction of an aqueduct to supply Mexico City. He pacified the country and organized the laws, paving the way for the arrival of the first viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, in 1535. The year 1532 was a tumultuous one in New Spain. For one thing, the crown brought the institution of slavery under regulation. The enslavement of Indians was prohibited. Also, the Audiencia brought back verdicts on the juicios de residencia of Cortés, the oidores of the First Audiencia, and others. Cortés and Bishop Zumárraga were acquitted; Ortiz de Matienzo and Delgadillo were convicted, but not sentenced. On April 25, 1532, Emperor Charles V signed a degree raising Antequera (now the city of Oaxaca) to the rank of a city (ciudad). Meantime the calumnies spread by the enemies of Bishop Zumárraga and the partisans of the first Audiencia had shaken the confidence of the Spanish Court. Zumárraga was ordered to return to Spain to defend himself before the Council of the Indies. He set sail in May 1532. Zumárraga, however, had little difficulty vindicating his good name, and was formally consecrated bishop at Valladolid on April 27, 1533. He returned to New Spain in October 1534 while Ramírez was still president of the Audiencia. Later career On August 25, 1535, news was received in Mexico City of the expected arrival of Don Antonio de Mendoza, the first viceroy of New Spain. Mendoza took over governmental functions from the Audiencia on November 14, 1535, the day of his arrival. Ramírez, who was ill, returned to Spain in 1537 to recover his health. He was successively bishop of Tuy (1538), León (1539) and Cuenca (1542). From 1540 he was president of the Chancery of Valladolid and a member of the Council of the Indies, the body that oversaw the overseas empire. He had some involvement in the New Laws of 1542 that limited the encomienda, serving as editor. He died on January 22, 1547, in Valladolid, Spain. At the time of his death he was president of the Chancery of Valladolid and bishop of Cuenca. He was interred in the Dominican convent of , in the town of Villaescusa de Haro, where he had been born. See also List of Viceroys of New Spain References "D. Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal," Mundicra No. 8, Christmas